The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Argyranthemum plant, botanically known as Argyranthemum frutescens and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98M8/20xe2x80x99.
The new Bracteantha is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Narre Warren East, Victoria, Australia. The objective of the program is to creat and develop new compact Argyranthemum cultivars with numerous inflorescences with attractive ray floret coloration.
The new Argyranthemum originated from a cross by the Inventor of the Argyranthemum frutescens cultivar M5/18, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified proprietary selection of Argyranthemum frutescens, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Argyranthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Narre Warren East, Victoria, Australia on Mar. 1, 1999. The selection of the new Argyranthemum was based on its compact mounded plant habit, purple red-colored ray florets and unique inflorescence form.
Asexual reproduction of the new Argyranthemum by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Narre Warren East, Victoria, Australia, since Mar. 1, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Argyranthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The new Argyranthemum has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, light intensity, photoperiod, and water and nutritional status without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following characteristics have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of xe2x80x98M8/20xe2x80x99 and distinguish the new Argyranthemum as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit, dense and bushy plants.
3. Very freely flowering with numerous inflorescences per plant.
4. Purple red-colored ray florets that fade to pale pink with age.
5. Unique semi-double inflorescence form.
Plants of the new Argyranthemum differ from plants of the parent cultivar M5/18 primarily in inflorescence form and ray floret color as plants of the cultivar M5/18 have single inflorescence form and pink-colored ray florets. In addition, plants of the new Argyranthemum have a dense, compact and mounded in plant habit whereas plants of the cultivar M5/18 have an open and loose plant habit. Plants of the male parent, the unidentified selection of Argyranthemum, differ primarily from plants of the new Argyranthemum in ray floret color and inflorescence form.
Plants of the new Argyranthemum are comparable to plants of the cultivar Summer Melody, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,763. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Narre Warren East, Victoria, Australia, plants of the new Argyranthemum differ from plants of the cultivar Summer Melody in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Argyranthemum are more compact and shorter than plants of the cultivar Summer Melody.
2. Plants of the new Argyranthemum have smaller leaves than plants of the cultivar Summer Melody.
3. Inflorescences of plants of the new Argyranthemum are semi-double in form whereas inflorescences of plants of the cultivar Summer Melody are double in form.
4. Plants of the new Argyranthemum have narrower peduncles than plants of the cultivar Summer Melody.